The present invention relates generally to medical treatments and devices, and in certain forms to medical devices that are implantable in a vascular, lymphatic, or other bodily vessel or that otherwise contact patient bodily fluid and that collect unwanted cells circulating with bodily fluid, especially cancer cells, and to methods employing the same.
Cancer therapy is faced with a number of challenges. One of those is metastasis, in which a malignant tumor can be formed at a location distant from a primary tumor. Often, even if a primary lesion is successfully treated by surgical obliteration or otherwise, overall treatments are complicated and increased mortality rates are experienced due to the growth of tumors that have metastasized to other organs.
Metastasis is a complex process. It is thought to involve multiple steps, including release of malignant cells from the primary neoplasm, migration of cancer cells into circulation, adhesion at distant sites, and growth of the disseminated cancer cells within the vessels or within the tissue following extravasation. The prevention of metastasis by impacting one or more of these processes has become an important goal in cancer therapy. In some work, drugs that can be administered to inhibit metastatic disease have been explored. These drugs may for example inhibit intravasation of metastatic cells by elaborating a physical barrier or inhibit the ability of cancer cells to migrate. Satisfactory anti-metastatic treatments have, however, proven difficult to find.
In view of the background in this area, needs remain for improved and/or alternative means for treating cancer or other pathogenic processes in patients, including those that may be used to reduce or prevent the spread of disease in the patients. Aspects of the present invention are addressed to these needs.